


Strike A Match

by BlackParadise



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, BDSM, Dom/sub, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, Mpreg, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2017, Potential Timetravel (We'll see), Slowish build, Spanking, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-20 16:02:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12436389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackParadise/pseuds/BlackParadise
Summary: Everyone is Matched. Given a rank between 1-100 in terms of power, and a title of either Submissive or Dominant - what will happen when Harry and Severus are Matched together?Excerpt:Steeling himself, he continued to read, “Matching Information. Name: Severus Snape. Age: 36. Classification: Dominant. Rank: 98.” He couldn’t help but flinch at the gasps that came from those sitting around him, only to find the hand that was on his thigh moving to rub his back instead, “Match…” He hesitated for just a moment before reading the name out loud, his live about to change irrevocably.Harry nodded to him, before reading out softly, “Harry Potter. Submissive.” He heard a few gasps at that but kept going, keeping his gaze firmly on the parchment, “Rank of 98.” More gasps, everyone waiting for him to finally read out, “Match…”





	1. Character Rankings

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! So this (probably combined with a bit of Traditional Carer) is going to be my Nanowrimo piece for 2017! This idea has been floating around in my head for a while - including oing a roleplay based around the first bit that I wrote!
> 
> The first chapter is just a list of the characters ranks and how they've been matched - I thought people might be curious. This list will be updated as characters are added or things are changed

  * Male – Submissive – Rare 
    * Harry Potter 
      * Level 98
      * Closest Match : Severus Snape
    * Neville Longbottom 
      * Level 74
      * Closest Match : Draco Malfoy
    * Dean Thomas 
      * Level 43
      * Closest Match : Seamus Finnegan
    * Tom Riddle 
      * Level 89
      * Closest Match : Minerva McGonagall
    * Sirius Black 
      * Level 9
      * Closest Match : Remus Lupin
    * Female – Submissive – Common 
      * Hermione Granger 
        * Level 7
        * Closest Match: Ron Weasley
      * Ginny Weasley 
        * Level 28
        * Closest Match : Michael Corner
      * Lavender Brown 
        * Level 54
        * Closest Match : Zacharias Smith
      * Luna Lovegood 
        * Level 75
        * Closest Match : Nymphadora Tonks
      * (Every other female not mentioned in Female-Dominant)
    * Male – Dominant – Common 
      * Ron Weasley 
        * Level 8
        * Closest Match : Hermione Granger
      * Draco Malfoy 
        * Level 73
        * Closest Match : Neville Longbottom
      * Severus Snape 
        * Level 98
        * Closest Match : Harry Potter
      * Seamus Finnegan 
        * Level 42
        * Closest Match : Dean Thomas
      * Remus Lupin 
        * Level 9 (Level 65 when in wolf form and around full moon)
        * Closest Match : Sirius Black
      * (Every other male not mentioned in Male-Submissive)
    * Female – Dominant – Rare 
      * Nymphadora Tonks 
        * Level 76
        * Closest Match : Luna Lovegood
      * Minerva McGonagall 
        * Level 88
        * Closest Match : Tom Riddle




	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of a teaser really - this is all I have written so far and I won't be writing any more until Nano starts. Enjoy!

Minerva glanced at Severus as the owls flew in to the hall. It was the day long awaited in the wizarding calendar, both with excitement and dread. It was Matching Day. Each 6th year student had, a month previously, visited Poppy in the hospital wing and given a sample of blood, which was sent to the Ministry to be tested. Each person was classified as Dominant or Submissive and given a rank between 1-100, determining the strength of both magic and dominance/submissiveness. That rank was then used to find the closest match of the matching classification. In some cases, no good match within one or two points was found and the person would have to wait to see in the following years. Once matched, the pair would have until the youngest graduated Hogwarts to bond. The higher the rank, the closer the matched pair had to be in rank. It was rare for a person to spend more than a few years waiting for a match if they didn’t receive one immediately.  
Minerva let out a quiet sigh, watching as, per tradition, the 6th years of each house stood and left the hall to gather in their respective common rooms and share their matches, before her gaze returned to Severus. The man had never received a match, which Minerva believed was because of his abnormally high score. Of course, she couldn’t be sure, as Severus had never actually divulged his score to her. But she suspected.  
She watched as his eyes widened, an owl stopping in front of him, sticking out a leg with a Match envelope attached. Severus undid the tie with shaky fingers, nodding to his colleagues before retreating to find out which child he would have to bond with in the next year and a half. As he had gotten older, he had dreaded this moment more and more. There was going to be such a large age gap between him and his future spouse. And he didn’t see himself as desirable at all.  
He sat down in his favourite armchair, glaring at the envelope with a full tumbler of whiskey in his hand, before glancing up startled when his door opened and in filed his colleagues, Minerva in the lead.

“You honestly didn’t think we’d let you go through this alone did you?” She questioned sternly, “No matter whose name is in that envelope Severus, we will support you and your new wife or husband”

Severus nodded silently, letting out a quiet sigh as they all sat, reaching for the envelope and opening it with a flick of his wand. He took a deep breath and slipped the paper out, before starting to read out loud.  
“Severus Tobias Snape. The Ministry of Magic is pleased to inform you that you have been matched. Due to the impressive nature of your rank, the Ministry requires you and your Match to bond before they commence their final year at Hogwarts, in order to ensure the safety of the submissive party.” He took a slow breath, glancing at his colleagues who all smiled encouragingly, Poppy even laying an affectionate hand on his leg.  
Steeling himself, he continued to read, “Matching Information. Name: Severus Snape. Age: 36. Classification: Dominant. Rank: 98.” He couldn’t help but flinch at the gasps that came from those sitting around him, only to find the hand that was on his thigh moving to rub his back instead, “Match…” He hesitated for just a moment before reading the name out loud, his live about to change irrevocably.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another small snippet I'm afraid - exams are kinda kicking my butt.

The parade of Gryffindor 6th years arrived at their common room and quickly sat in the comfortable armchairs around the fire, nodding kindly to the 7th and 5th years who had followed them for moral support.

  
An almost simultaneous deep breath was taken before gaze turned to the person sitting closest to the door, “Seamus? You start?” Lavender asked shakily.  
The Irish lad nodded and slip the top of his envelope with shaking hands, skipping the introduction and reading out, “Seamus Finnegan. Dominant. Rank of 42. Match…” He couldn’t stop a grin, “Dean Thomas.”

  
A small cheer went around the room. One of the hardest things about matching time was couples who had been going out, some for years like Dean and Seamus, had to split in favour of the Match. For some however, like Dean and Seamus, the match only made things better.

  
With a wide grin, Dean, sitting next to Seamus as always, went next. “Dean Thomas. Submissive. Rank of 43. Match, Seamus Finnegan.” And with that, the now matched pair joined in a heated kiss. The kiss was only broken moments later with a quiet cough from Hermione, who was next.

  
“Hermione Granger” She read out quietly, “Submissive. Rank of 7” she couldn’t help but giggle at the nods around the room. While she wasn’t fit to be a dominant, none of them could see Hermione being that submissive to well… anyone. “Match… Ron Weasley”  
Laughs broke out at the bright red colour that suddenly tinged the cheeks of the aforementioned red-head, who was sitting at the other side of the circle.

  
Lavender went next, face falling as she read, “Lavender Brown. Submissive. Rank of 54. We are sorry to inform you that no match has been found for you at this time. We offer you our best wishes for the next year of Matches.”

  
Pavarti pulled her best friend into a hug before tears could form, “It’ll be okay Lav,” She murmured, before opening her own letter to find the same message, only addressed to Ms Patil and with a rank of 38. She read it out with a smile to her friend and then the sharing continued around the circle, with Neville up next.

  
“Neville Longbottom,” He read out, nervous but comforted with the presence of those closest to him around the room, “Submissive. Rank of 74. Match…” His face paled before he slowly stuttered out, “D-Draco Malfoy.”

  
Silence filled the room before Hermione reached over and patted his knee, “You’ll be fine Nev, and no one here will let him hurt you,” She flushed bright red, “Unless of course you want him to.”  
With that everyone let out a groan and laughter erupted, restoring the relaxed atmosphere, before Ron read his letter out quickly, already knowing the eventual result, “Ronald Weasley. Dominant. Rank of 8. Match Hermione Granger.”

  
Everyone’s gaze slid to the final 6th year, who was staring at his letter silently, as though afraid to look at it. A certain female red-head perked up, certain that the letter would tell him that he would have to wait for a match, she was certain that his match was herself.  
Harry Potter stared at his letter under the gaze of his friends, and slowly opened it.

Immediately, he noticed that his introduction was different than that of his friends, and so he read that out first, “Harry James Potter. The Ministry of Magic is pleased to inform you that you have been matched. Due to the impressive nature of your rank, the Ministry requires you and your Match to bond before you commence your final year at Hogwarts, in order to ensure the safety of the submissive party.”

  
Everyone looked at him in shock, before Neville smiled, “Go on Harry. Can’t be that much worse than Malfoy.” He murmured gently, worry for the other wizard showing in his eyes.

  
Harry nodded to him, before reading out softly, “Harry Potter. Submissive.” He heard a few gasps at that but kept going, keeping his gaze firmly on the parchment, “Rank of 98.” More gasps, everyone waiting for him to finally read out, “Match…”

  
Harry’s face paled and he let out the softest of whimpers, gaze flying up to meet Neville’s, then Hermione’s and then Ron’s in quick succession, “Severus Snape.”


	4. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry reaction to his match
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING - Mentions of suicide and what I would consider an attempted suicide however nothing graphic.

Harry took a shaky breath, standing before anyone could react and racing out of the common room, needing to be anywhere but there.

“Harry!” Neville called after him, standing to follow only to be stopped by Hermione. “Let him go Neville, he just needs time to digest this.”  
  
Neville frowned, “He needs to not be alone right now!” He snapped, “Don’t you understand what was said in his letter? The more submissive the person, the more support and help they need. That’s why Harry needs to bond before the end of this year. Leaving him alone right now is a terrible idea” He snarled, tugging his hand out of her grip and marching after Harry.

“What does he mean?” A fifth year asked quietly, looking confused.

Ron stepped forward and sighed, “There have been cases of those with high submissive rankings hurting themselves” He explained softly, “Although there hasn’t been submissives over the rank of 70 in decades. Harry and Neville are both above that” He said, before following Neville out.

 

Ron raced down the hallway, trying to find his two best guy friends, only to run into Malfoy on the way.

“Watch where you’re going Weasley!” Draco snapped, on his way to the Gryffindor Common Room to find Neville.

“I don’t have time for this Malfoy” Ron snarled, “There are two high ranking submissives somewhere in the castle and at least one of them is upset” He said firmly, knowing that Draco would understand that at least.

“Shit” Draco paled, “Who?”

“Harry and Neville. Harry was upset and ran off, Neville followed” Ron said, knowing that even if he found the two subs, he’d need a higher ranking dom to actually calm Harry down. His own measly score of 7 wouldn’t be enough to ground them.

Draco nodded shortly, turning around, the pair of them quickly starting to search, finding the two boys at the top of the astronomy tower… where Harry was sobbing, standing on the edge.

 

Draco stepped up behind Harry slowly, “Potter? How about you step back a little bit?” He said quietly, none of his usual sneer in his tone.

Harry froze, whimpering weakly and shaking his head, “Never asked for this” He whimpered, and “Why it is always gotta be me? I’m not even gay” his voice shook more with each word.

“It’s going to be okay Potter” Draco soothed, the need to comfort the distressed sub flaring deep within him, “look at me please.”

Harry shook his head, keeping his gaze on the ground below, “I don’t want this Malfoy. I just want to be Harry? Isn’t that enough?”

“Of course that’s enough” Draco murmured, gently laying a hand on Harry’s shoulder.

Harry flinched and tried to pull away from the touch, only to over balance and start falling over the edge.

Draco swore and grabbed him, pushing his own weight backwards as he tugged them back, falling onto the stone floor.

Harry immediately started struggling against him, “let me go! I don’t want this!” He screamed, thrashing as much as he could.

“Weasley? Find a Professor and get his Match here now!” Draco yelled, fighting to keep a hold over Harry, gritting his teeth as the red head sprinted off down the stairs.

“D-Draco?” Neville said nervously, “Professor Snape is his Match”

Draco couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, “Guess that makes us soon to be family then Potter. Now, can you calm down for me?” he asked, pushing his dominance into his voice.

Harry stopped struggling as much, feeling his body almost calming against his will, whimpering softly even as he still tried to weakly tug against Draco’s grip.

“Damn” Draco murmured softly, realizing that Harry’s rank was higher than his, meaning he couldn’t calm him completely, “Neville? What’s his rank?” he asked, holding onto Harry firmly with one arm around his waist, reaching his other hand out to stroke Neville’s ankle, offering him some comfort as well.

“98” Neville said softly as he sat down next to the pair, holding onto Draco’s hand when it was offered, his voice still shaking from watching his friend and Match almost topple over the edge of the tower.

Draco made a soft wowing noise, looking up when footsteps were heard, grunting lightly when Harry started to struggle again, the calming effect of Draco’s voice only temporary.

Minerva appeared at the top of the stairs first, beating Severus by only moments, the dark hair man immediately crossing to his godson and Match, laying his hand on Harry’s back.

“Time to calm down now” Severus murmured, letting the full extent of his dominance into his voice, channelling it through his voice, hand and magic, flowing it into the boy that was trying his best to break free, “Just relax, no one is going to hurt you.”  
  
Draco looked up at his godfather shakily as Harry finally stopped struggling, “h-he tried to throw himself off Sev. He was going to kill himself” he whispered, adrenaline starting to wear off.

“That reaction isn’t uncommon Mr Malfoy” Minerva said gently, rubbing Neville’s back lightly, “especially with higher ranks. As soon as Professor Snape read his letter we began looking for Mr Potter.”

Severus kept rubbing Harry’s back and murmuring gentle soothing words to him, easing him out of Draco’s arms and into his own, tucking the small teenagers face against his neck.

“Relax Harry” He murmured gently, “just go to sleep”

Harry tried to fight it best he could, but with the soothing sensation of the man’s magic on his, and the warmth from his chest, his eyes slipped shut easily.


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to spare you all the 'I'm super busy talk' but I am sorry this has taken so long - the summer should hopefully(!) give me spare time to write more

Severus cradled Harry close to his chest, kissing his forehead softly and heading towards the hospital wing, long strides eating up the distance.

He could hear Draco and Ronald behind him, coaxing Neville along, the other submissive settling into a state of shock. The presence of his Match wasn't quite enough to calm him, given the animosity between them, so the addition of Ronald's presence was clearly helping, despite his lower score.

He kicked open the hospital wing doors and strode towards Harry's usual bed, laying the lad down carefully and stroking his cheek, shushing him lightly when Harry whined, "It's alright little one, I'm here."

 

Madame Pomfrey bustled over when she heard the doors open, paling when she saw Harry cradled in Severus' arms, "He didn't?" she whispered in shock, shaking her head and bringing her hand up to cover his mouth.

"He is unharmed" Severus said, a slight shake to his voice and laying a hand on Harry's side, "But if it weren't for Mr Malfoy we'd be in a very different situation."

Draco flushed a little bit from where he was guiding Neville to lay down, Ron running to grab a bottle of juice from where he knew they were kept. 

Madame Pomfrey nodded and cast a few charms over Harry, mostly to monitor for when he'd wake up, before crossing over to Neville.

 

"Can you tell me about the Devil's Snare plant Mr Longbottom?" She asked, laying an already warmed blanket over him, recognizing the symptoms of shock easily and hoping to distract Neville from what had just happened. It worked, with Neville starting to spout out facts as his Match and friend took care of him, the blonde man starting to drift to sleep once he was calm.

 

 

 

Harry began to wake a few hours later, panic immediately stopped in its tracks by a long fingered hand sliding through his hair and scratching lightly on his scalp, forcing him to relax against the bed despite his muscles having tensed immediately upon waking.

"You're safe Mr Potter" He heard a smooth voice, almost sounding like dark molten honey, making him melt even more against the bed, "You're in the hospital wing at Hogwarts."  
  
He finally worked up the effort to blink his eyes open, the soothing sensation of the scalp scritching making him want to drift back to sleep, eyes widening when he saw the dark haired man sitting at his bedside.

"Wha'?" he asked, yawning softly and reaching up to rub his eyes, noticing a bracelet secured around his wrist.

"Do you remember what happened Mr Potter?" Severus asked gently, slipping his hand out of Harry's hair carefully, unable to hold back a smirk when Harry let out a quiet whine. He slipped his hand back in at the small pout on his submissives face, smiling fondly as the lad immediately relaxed again.

Harry nodded shortly, his mind flashing back to the events on the Astronomy Tower and whimering softly, "I don't know what came over me. One second I was reaching the letter and the next I couldn't think for the panic" he whispered.

Severus nodded, scratching his scalp carefully with long fingernails, "That's normal Mr Potter, it's know as Submissive Shock. It's very common in submissives over a rank of 60. As you are well above that, the effects were greater in your case. That is why I immediately began looking for you after reading my own letter."

He gestured to the bracelet around Harry's wrist, "This is a monitoring device. It will let myself, and Madame Pomfrey if I am unavailable, know if you are in distress or danger. If you need me at any point, all you have to do is run two fingers over the bracelet and I will know. If you are scared or panicking again, the bracelet will tell me automatically." he explained gently.

Harry nodded numbly, his mind struggling to process everything, "I.. we have to get married don't we professor?" He whispered.

"We do" Severus nodded, "And before the school year ends, to help keep you grounded and safe. So please, call me Severus."

"Call me Harry then" Harry said quietly, hands shaking on the covers as he thought about how his life will change.

"Now, I don't believe Poppy has any need to keep you here, so how about I break you out and we get you some food from the kitchens instead of the inevitable hospital porridge?" Severus smirked, having spent many a morning at Poppy's mercy himself.

"Please" Harry grinned, swinging his legs out of the bed and letting Severus charm his pajamas into robes before following him out of the wing before Poppy could notice that he was gone. 


End file.
